Episode #87: The Road to the Sinnoh League!

After finally getting his eighth gym badge, the gang boarded a ship to the Pokémon League Island, known a Sunfall Island. Rain sat out on the main deck and looked at all of his badges that he earned throughout his career as a trainer. He was impressed at the hard work he did and knew that he would be strong in the Sinnoh League.

“Hey, Rain,” Manny said, approaching him. “We should be at the island before tomorrow morning.”

“Good,” Rain said. “I was hoping we’d get there before time was up. Wish I could train, though.”

“Well, they have a battling arena on a boat somewhere. Let’s check that out.”

Rain liked the idea of a battling arena on a boat. He went with Manny to check it out, heading downstairs to the main hall where this was all taking place. They saw a large café-like room with all the tables being stacked together to clear for all the battlers there. So far, only two were battling while everyone else watched. One was a young boy with pale yellow spiky hair wearing a red tank top and blue shorts while the other one was a young girl, about Rain’s age, with black hair that went down to the left side of her head, just past her eyes with a bow on the right side of her head and wore a black and white gothic-style dress with black pants and boots to match the color scheme.

Both of them had one Pokémon each battling. The boy had a Mothim on him while the girl had a very large, orange canine Pokémon with black markings around it and beige fur along it front body, mouth, head, tail and all four legs. Rain opened up his Pokédex to check it out.

“Rare to see an Arcanine here,” Rain said.

“ARCANINE: THE LEGENDARY POKÉMON; ARCANINE IS THE EVOLVED FORM OF GROWLITHE. IT IS VERY FAST, ABLE TO RUN OVER 6,200 MILES IN A SINGLE DAY AND NIGHT. IT’S PROUD AND REGAL APPEARANCE HAS CAPTURED THE HEART OF PEOPLE SINCE LONG AGO.”

“Mothim, use Silver Wind!” the boy ordered.

Mothim fired a Silver Wind attack while Arcanine simply barked at it, shattering it into nothing.

“Whoa!” Rain said, amazed at Arcanine’s power.

“Fire Blast,” the girl ordered.

Arcanine shot a blast of fire in a shape of a stick figure-like symbol as it struck Mothim hard, knocking it out instantly.

“Nice try, kid,” the girl said. “Arcanine, return!”

The girl called her Pokémon back and walked off. She stopped to see Rain and Manny, who were both watching her battle.

“I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?” the girl said.

“No, I don’t think we met before,” Rain said.

“I know that, but I could have sworn that I saw you somewhere.”

She tried to think hard about where she saw him. She knew then.

“I know, you were in Hearthome City!” she said. “You were on the news about the giant Buizel that attacked the city!”

“Well, I guess I gotta be famous for something,” he replied nervously. “Wait, people still remember that?”

“I assume that if you’re on this boat, then you’re participating in the Sinnoh League, right?”

“Yeah, but out of the two of us, it’s just me. I’m Rain Eidoh.”

“I’m Marley.”

She soon remembered something else, something about her brother.

“You know, I know your brother, Kaze,” she said.

“You know Kaze?!” Rain replied.

“I battled him once before. He’s pretty good. Hey, you know, maybe we can train together since we’ll both be in the Sinnoh League. I’m a pretty strong battler.”

Rain knew she was from the battle they saw earlier. Rain looked up at Manny, who seemed to think it was all right.

“Sure, why not?” he replied.

“Great, we should talk about how to train our Pokémon, like what our plans are for the league.”

Rain felt a little unusual making a friend this suddenly, but he felt like he should at least know the competition a little. Both of them decided to head back to Rain’s room to see Jessica and Donovan, since they were both probably waiting for him to come back.

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Rain, Manny and Marley arrived at Rain’s boat room to see Jessica playing with her Riolu, while Donovan was busy checking something on the computer nearby. Donovan looked over at the three of them to notice Marley amongst the group.

“I see you made a new friend,” Donovan said.

“Yeah,” Rain replied. “This is Marley. She’s competing in the Sinnoh League too.”

“Hello,” Marley said. “I apologize for coming, but I make it a habit to get to know at least some of the competitors here. It’s a little strategy of mine, though it couldn’t hurt to have some friends in all of this.”

“No, it’s all right,” Rain said. “I’m always welcome to help others!”

Marley sat down and smiled. Rain sat next to her, interested in knowing all about her and why she was entering.

“So what made you want to enter the Sinnoh League?” Rain asked.

“Well, I always want to enter the league all my life,” Marley said, “but there’s a reason why I have to enter…and it’s more than just aiming to be a Pokémon Master. In fact, I came here to see if you all knew anything.”

Rain wondered what she meant by that.

“There’s a Pokémon that I’m interested in…one that lives amongst the flowers.”

“A Pokémon…?” Jessica asked.

“…that lives amongst the flowers?” Manny finished.

Marley nodded.

“I heard stories about this creature. They say that very few have actually met this creature, but they recently found out that they do exist. They call them ‘Shaymin’”

Rain opened his Pokédex to see what this Shaymin was.

“NO POKEDEX DATA CAN BE FOUND.” it said.

“Another mysterious Pokémon?!” Rain thought.

“Do people know it exists?” Donovan asked.

“No, but I found out that someone knows everything about Shaymin. Someone researches legendary Pokémon and I want to meet her!”

“Who?” Rain asked.

Marley paused for a moment before she finally gave her answer.

“Cynthia,” she said.

They immediately knew who she was. She was obviously referring to none other than the Champion of Sinnoh!

“You mean the champion?!” Rain asked.

“Indeed,” Marley replied. “She knows about Shaymin and I need to find out! However in order to meet her, you have to win the league and face her in the final round. I just have to win! Anyway, I should probably get going. I’m starving and they’re having food in a few minutes. Is it all right if we meet later on tonight?”

“Sure,” Rain said.

She smiled as she walked out, but Rain stopped her for a moment as she turned around, wondering what he wanted.

“If I get the information before you do…then I’ll tell you all I learned about Shaymin!”

She smiled and headed out. Rain wanted to learn about this Shaymin Pokémon as well, but if he had to defeat Cynthia to do it, then he would have to go all the way. He got up and headed downstairs to have some dinner.

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Once night time came around, Rain headed off to the mini battle rooms within the ship that was reserved for him and Marley to train. He wondered what he would do with his Pokémon that needed a lot of training. He looked over his team in his head and decided that Torterra and Drifblim have enough battle experience to fight on their own. Drapion was strong, but it may need training. Kirlia, Luxio and Sneasel, three Pokémon that had yet to make it to their final form, were in need of training. He finally decided that Luxio needs more training than the others and entered the battle rooms. He immediately saw Marley nearby as she went to him. Arcanine was on the other side, sleeping peacefully while waiting for Rain.

"I was waiting for you!" she said. "Can I see which Pokémon you want to train?"

Rain sent out his Luxio as he wagged his tail happily.

"Luxi!" he said.

"Any other Pokémon that you want to train?" Marley asked.

"Well...maybe we can use Sneasel," Rain said, "since he's my most recent capture."

"Hmmm....since it's the right time, how about we do Sneasel first!"

"Why Sneasel?"

"I have something that I can use to help it out."

She dug into her pocket and pulled out a sharp, metal claw.

"Careful, it's very sharp!" she said.

Rain carefully took it and wondered what to do with it.

"It's called a Razor Claw," Marley explained. "It's an item that can raise the power of attacks on random occasions. It's also used to evolve Sneasel into Weavile."

"Weavile?" Rain asked.

"Of course, it's up to your Sneasel as well. I won't force it to evolve."

Rain wondered if this was a good idea. Rain sent out his Sneasel as he squatted down and equipped the Razor Claw on him. Sneasel wondered what it was for, until Rain told him why he was doing this.

"Sneasel, how would you like to evolve into a Weavile?" Rain asked.

Sneasel wondered what he meant by that.

"You want to be strong, right? So how about we train you to evolve with the Razor Claw on you."

Sneasel wondered if this was a good idea. He looked at his new Razor Claw and then looked back at Rain in confusion. He continued to smile while Sneasel was willing to evolve via Razor Claw. Sneasel took the opportunity to slash at him with the Razor Clawed hand as Rain fell back.

"Watch it," Rain said. "Those are sharp!"

They both got into their battling positions as Rain and Sneasel prepared to battle.

"Arcanine!" Marley said.

She whistled as she managed to wake her trusted Pokémon up to battle. She shook herself and went out onto the battlefield to take on Sneasel!

"Wait, I'm fighting Arcanine?!" Rain said, surprised.

"Why not?" she asked. "It's a good way for you to battle at a disadvantage!"

Rain was nervous about Sneasel, an Ice type Pokémon, battling a Fire type like Arcanine. Marley smiled as they began the battle.

"Extremespeed!" Marlety ordered.

Arcanine shot at Sneasel with blinding speeds, knocking Sneasel aside and shooting it away.

"Sneasel, use Quick Attack!" Rain ordered.

Sneasel charged forward and struck Arcanine, but despite the power, it did nothing. Sneasel jumped back and prepared for another attack.

"Okay, let's try something else!" Rain thought. "Use Beat Up!"

Sneasel charged power as it went in with a Beat Up attack.

"Fire Fang!" Marley ordered.

Arcanine's mouth became engulfed in fire as it charged towards Sneasel.

"Dodge with Quick Attack!" Rain ordered.

Sneasel avoided the attack successfully, but Marley and Arcanine weren't finished yet!

"Use Flare Blitz!" Marley ordered.

Arcanine became engulfed in fire, but the fire soon faded, leaving Arcanine to wonder what happened.

"Umm...a...failed attack?" Rain asked, confused.

"You see," she said nervously, Uhhhh...I was planning on teaching my Arcanine Flare Blitz when she was still a little Growlithe, but when she evolved...I found a way to re-teach her pre-evolved moves, but I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to work. Which was the real reason why I asked you to train with me. I thought if I could train your Pokémon in return..."

"I see," Rain said. "No, it's all right! We'll continue battling until both of us reach our goal!"

"Thanks, Rain. Arcanine, use Flamethrower!"

"Dodge with Quick Attack!" Rain ordered.

Sneasel dodged to avoid the Flamethrower attack, while Arcanine turned and struck Sneasel with it, doing a huge amount of damage. Sneasel fell to the ground, struggling to get up.

"Ice Beam!" Rain ordered.

Sneasel fired an Ice Beam, however the attack, once it hit, seemed to be melting from Arcanine's skin! Her body was so hot that Ice attacks were completely useless!

"Flare Blitz!" Marley ordered.

"Beat Up!" Rain ordered.

Sneasel was powering his Beat Up attack while Arcanine was powering her Flare Blitz, but still failed to get anywhere.

"Keep trying!" Marley said. "You need to focus all of your power into it!"

Arcanine nodded in response and prepared for another Flare Blitz. she was soon engulfed in fire as red sparks came out of her. Both Pokémon charged forward to attack and collided with the same power of force. Both of them were sent back, but neither of them were out yet. Sneasel slowly got up and prepared for another go, when suddenly, he began to glow a familiar bright white.

"He's...evolving!" Rain said, amazed at his results.

Sneasel's body became bigger, his claws began to split and his tail began to merge slightly. His head had something that was growing on top of him and a ears that were being pushed down to the bottom sides. The evolution process was complete, showing Sneasel as a bigger version of himself with a red fan-like crown on his head and a red collar around his neck. He appeared to have a yellow jewel on his forehead.

"Sneasel?" Rain asked as he took out his Pokédex.

"WEAVILE: THE SHARP CLAW POKÉMON; THE EVOLVED FORM OF SNEASEL WITH A RAZOR CLAW ATTACHED TO IT. WEAVILE LIVE IN COLD REGIONS, HUNTING IN PACKS OF FOUR OR FIVE IN IMPRESSIVE COORDINATION. IT SIGNALS OTHERS BY CARVING ODD PATTERNS IN FROST COVERED TREES."

"Okay, that's enough for now," Marley said.

"What do you mean?" Rain asked.

"Well, we both got our Pokémon to get what they want, so why not rest until the league starts! Don't worry, I'm sure we can have our rematch soon."

Rain smiled as he held her promise, hoping to face her in the Sinnoh League. They both headed upstairs to their respective rooms and waited for the boat to arrive at the island they were headed to.

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The boat was approaching the island where the league was taking place. It was known as Sunfall Island, which was under complete ownership of the Pokémon League's Sinnoh Division, otherwise known as the Sinnoh League. Rain jolted out to the front to see the league in the distance. He was so excited that he wanted to swim there to get there first.

"Well, Rain?" Donovan asked. "Your moment has finally come!"

"Yeah," Rain said. "The Sinnoh League! HERE WE GO!!!!!"

Rain cheered happily, ready to take on anyone that stoodin his way. He wanted to win and he would do it with the team that got him here. Nothing could stop him now.


To Be Continued!